Millie FaceTimed with my mom while we got ready this morning. She baked a cake while Millie chatted away. Technology is amazing. After about an hour together, we left the hotel to walk to the original Ollantaytambo village. This took us through the town square and into cute meandering streets.

Ollantaytambo is the only site in all of Peru where Incans were able to successfully defend themselves against the conquistadors. With its very solid and tall terraces, I could see why.

Millie somehow didn’t complain at all as we walked up. We have adjusted to the altitude by now so only got slightly out of breath.

Once again I tried to make sense of the stonework. It fits together so perfectly that it looks fake, and yet it is so wonky.

From the top we had a great view of the valley below.

My favorite part was seeing the clever drainage. At the bottom there was a whole area of ceremonial fountains that still had water running through them from the far away snow-capped mountains. This then continues through modern day Ollantaytambo. Such amazing feats of design and engineering.

We sat on a bench in the shade for a while, while llamas grazed on the grass in front of us. I could see exactly why this was an ideal place to settle. We had the Andes on all sides, great weather, and a continuous supply of water.

We met two older ladies from Mississippi and talked to them for a while. It made me excited to get back to the US. Then we walked to a coffee shop and had a small lunch to energize us for our second hike to ruins.

We walked through even more picturesque streets. Some had gutters of fresh water running through them, from the same source as the ruins we just saw.

We began our hike up the mountain to see the granary. Or at least that’s what people think these were used for. So many archaeological sites are still a mystery, which is part of the fun.

It was hot and steep and the complaining started. But we put one foot in front of the other and started to look back to see the progress we were making. On the other side of town, we could see the terraces that we had climbed just a couple of hours before.

We made our way up to the deserted structures that sat on the side of the mountain.

One there, we climbed around in them. Nick pulled out a surprise piece of chocolate that had mostly melted, but Millie didn’t mind.

The walk down was much quicker. We walked back to our hotel to cool down and rest our legs. After a couple of hours of rest, we headed out for dinner.

I had done some research and found a nice restaurant with great reviews. This was our best meal in a while. We had local lamb, chicken, and trout. And lots of fresh, crunchy vegetables which have been few and far between lately,

The highlight was trying chicha. This is a drink made out of corn and it was delicious. We didn’t expect it to be so dark, but then we saw an ear of corn that was being used as table decoration and it made sense.

We are debating going back again tomorrow.